As my cousin says

Card Count: 107

As my cousin likes to say, "Kick life in the dick!"

Two more trades in today, and what a beautiful "get in" it was.  At first I was thinking, "Oh Balls!  I need to get this all inventoried and pictured and sleeved and blogged..."  But yeah, it was a good day.

Here we go!

These little guys came all the way from Japan!  I don't know if it is me, but all the packages I get from Japan are just packed so well.

Little extra inning Tenth Edition adds... Fuck you basic land!

Oh Rukh you sexy bird chick!

Jok hop all over your face!

Oh what is that?  Boom!  Betrayers of Kamigawa done!!

What did you say?  Boom!  Ravnica: City of Guilds done!

Suck on my what?  Oh that is right, my goat ass you fucking basic lands!  Lorwyn done!

With one gorgeous trade I was able to finish up three sets, and as you can see the bane of my existance (Basic Lands) can suck it hard!  So happy to finish out those sets!  Seriously, I need 4 more cards to finish out all the expansions and 3 of the 4 are you guessed it, Basic suck ass lands!

Woot woot!  I really believe that I would not be able to do this without CardSphere.  Who in their right mind would think about trading basic lands to someone?

That is all...

Quality, just quality

Card Count: 122

Got me a big one!

This incoming CardSphere trade was just quality with Legacy and Modern cards.  Most of it was core set cards, and I did end up getting a lot of basic land cards, but all in all it was a pretty fantastic package.  The cards were all in very good condition.

I also think that CardSphere changed up the way they post cards that are getting sent out.  They actually group together the cards that are going to a single trader.  I think, before when you started to accept trades they were all separate to the accepted Send.  Now, they group all the Sends for a single trader, which helps out when you are packing up the cards.

I am only saying this because I got e-mail after e-mail from this single trader that just kept sending me cards, but they all ended up in a single trade.  I am not sure if this was the case before, and it seemed like a new feature.

Here We Go!

Here were some pretty perfect 6th Edition cards.  Very surprised on how good the conditions were for such an old set.  I was very happy.

I only need 13 more 7th Edition cards for my complete play sets.

I have an issue with keeping my cards centered when I take pictures, but yeah I only got 1 8th Edition card.

These 9th Edition cards were pretty good adds, and the thing I was most excited about with this core set?  Yup, you guessed it, the basic lands!  I am so tired of trying to get basic lands, but it is pretty impressive to see all those lands in the BCW they reside in.

Tenth Edition and I am just as happy with these basic lands as I was with the other ones!

Oh look, more basic lands but from Lorwyn!!!  Fucking 2 more needed!  Get in!

A little better with the centering, and I only need 3 more Champions of Kamigawa cards for the playset.  Guess what they are?  Fuck you basic lands!  Fuck you in the goat ass.

So yeah, this is the breakdown of what I am waiting for to complete the playsets.

Sixth Edition: 45
Seventh Edition: 13
Eighth Edition: 11
Ninth Edition: 26
Tenth Edition: 18
Champions of Kamigawa: 3
Betrayers of Kamigawa: 2
Saviors of Kamigawa: 1
Ravnica: 1
Lorwyn: 2

So yeah, 122 more cards left for Phase 1 and I am really really trying hard to not add my Phase 2 wants just yet.  I have faith that we will get that final trader and send out that Revised Starter deck.

Love these incoming trades!

Card Count: 196

Holy shit I am below 200!  What in the all holy hell is going on!

So yes, I love the trades that just came in for the fact that 10 of the 11 cards I got in finished up playsets!  I just love removing the lines I keep track of on my Notes application.  It is so fulfilling to delete that line.  Also, I finished up my Playsets of the Conspiracy: Take the Crown first prints.  Now I think I am going to try for the Conspiracy first prints.

Here we go!

Boom!  Expansion done!

This trade actually came in from Deckbox, and it was lovely.  9 of the 10 cards completed playsets, and those are some of my favorite cards to inventory.

I just can't believe that I am under 200...

Could be the slow down

Card Count: 206

I don't know if it is a slow down, or if I have reached peak trading.  I always knew there was going to be a time with collecting that there would be a massive slowdown, and I would find it harder to get the cards I need outside of just buying them outright.  I was hoping that CardSphere would extend that time, but I don't think they have a critical mass yet on the site with only around 2200 traders.

I saw this with Deckbox during my Legacy phase, where I was trying to get all the older sets complete and I ended up spending $100ish on TCG to just finish all my playsets.  I also recall that I did not want to mix up the Legacy / Modern lists, and wanted to completely finish up one list before I started the other.  Basically I could have just added my wishlist for Modern and picked up the cards for Legacy within those trades.

To explain what is happening, we have hit a point where the number of cards I am looking to get are so varied that it is hard to trade with just a single person.

Deckbox example: I can find multiple traders with a bunch of cards that I need, but they don't need anything I have.  Or, there are a bunch of cards that I have that they need, but the amount of cards that I need from them is so small, that I need to pick up cards I don't need to finish the trade.

CardSphere Example: I have a lovely balance, but the cards they have to send me is usually less than $1.00 so it is not worth it to send the card because of the shipping cost.

I really think it is a combination of each for both sites.  With Deckbox I am going to have to start trades that are less than $20 just to find the cards I can get.  I still have some hope with CardSphere because it is such a new site, that I will be able to see some cards trickle in.  Now it could be the summer lull, or I could be seeing peak trading, but I am going to keep on the whole plan to keep trading.  I really want to send out a Revised Sealed Tournament deck with the last card I need.

Here we go!

45...  45...  That is how many Birds of Paradise I own in the collection.  I am missing 2 7th Edition, and 1 Alpha.  That is a play set in everything outside of Beta, Unlimited, Conspiracy: Take the Crown.  I also have the International Collection Edition and a Korean 4th Edition BoP but we are not counting those.

And...

So yeah, all in all I am going to have to put a little more time in Deckbox trading while I wait for new players to join CardSphere.  The question is what will I use my balance on CardSphere for while I wait.  Right now I have about $78 for a balance, but remember most of that trading is sending out common / uncommons, so in my eyes it is all profit.  I could cash out, but the cost of that is just too much.

I could think about adding some speculation cards I am looking for to use up some of that balance, but then I don't want to not have a balance for the cards I am really looking for.  But then do I keep sending out cards to keep that balance going?  If I do send out more cards, there is really no hedge that I can do incase there is run on the site and inflation goes crazy.  I suppose everything is tracked in US Dollars, so $100 is always $100, so that could be an option and just see how much of a balance I can run up while I wait.  There is still a fear that the site will not pay out too.  It could just be lost cash and cards.

Either way I think I will concentrate with Deckbox as my active trading, and then keep sending out on CardSphere to build up a balance.  I will think about trying to get ABU cards that I need to fill out my sets, I heard that doing that on PucaTrade was a pretty good deal.

I am just so close to finishing and want to keep this going with filling everything out on trades.

When it is too good to be true

Card Count: 208

So I am either early to the game, or there is something that is going to crash, but CardSphere is delivering like no tomorrow.  The cards just keep coming in, and I just keep gaining more value than I could have done with Deckbox.  I am sending out Commons and Uncommons like no tomorrow. Granted those cards have value, but still it is a simple transaction.  I just send out cards, get a balance, and cards just keep coming in.  As long as I have a balance and cards on my "Wants" I get something every week.

Now I know with PucaTrade there was inflation, and those points went to complete $0.  I do see the fees within CardSphere, and I am not sure that PucaTrade had the same thing, but I am seriously interested in seeing how they manage the economy.  I seriously just hope I get the cards I need for my sets before the site goes to hell, but I hope it does not go to hell at all.  If I was a collector, and starting any type of goal, I would use the site for sure at this point.  There is still a small bit of hesitation that I have about the site, just because what happened to PucaTrade.

Here We Go!!!

This trade was the first trade I had to dispute.  I got these two beauties along with Form of the Dragon and Beacon of Unrest (Everytime I see this card I get a flash back to Everquest and hunting that haunted house).  The Form and Beacon were from the wrong sets.  I sent a chat message to the sender, and he just instructed me to open a dispute and the admin would correct it.  It was pretty easy. The admin just checked the chat we had, saw that the sender was sorry and in agreement to disputing the cards.  I got my balance back for the cards I did not get, and that was about it.  Clean and simple, no fuss.  The sender also said that I should just keep the cards.  The only thing that I wish was different, once the dispute went through, the cards that I originally wanted should have been added to my "Wants" again.  I did check, and noticed they were not there, so I just had to add them again.

This trade also came in, but as you can see the white bordered cards were not NM, but were dirty around the edges.  I did not dispute these cards because I did not want to deal with the sender.

Boom!

Pow!

Crash!

Prrrmfffff!

So yeah, this was a great haul, and I just keep knocking down that count number.  If all the cards come in that has been committed to me, I should be around 190!  That is just fucking insane!

Small little add on:

This came in from my pre-order on Amazon and I have the 4 books in the art set.

Lodestone Bulk

So, I get back from my work trip and open up all the CardSphere cards I have to accept, and I get a bug up my ass to pick up that top spot for cards sent on CardSphere again.  So I pack up a bunch of envelopes and send them off to get opened by some lucky traders.  Then it looked like I had an open Sunday, so I figured I would head up to the Lodestone to dig through some bulk.

The last time I was up there digging through their basic lands one of the owners said they had some boxes full of "Weird" items that they did not inventory to sell.  These were odds and ins they picked up from collections they had purchased.  It was mainly duel decks, commander decks, Un-sets, and old vintage cards.  It was a pretty good haul too with 2 5,000 count boxes and a couple long boxes.

Let's say that it was a good day to dig through some bulk.

I found this gem!

I was extra happy to find this card considering now I only need 10 more 4th Edition Korean cards for the complete set and it is extremely difficult to find any cards from this set / language.

I also found a ton of Unhinged cards that I need!

Considering I got all the lands I need, I am just happy to find these cards.

I did not think I would be able to fill out the Starter 1999 sets, but here lay some great pickups.

Then to my surprise Starter 2000 showed up!

These are difficult to spot, just cause there is no set symbol, but the copyright date is more toward the middle of the bottom of the card.  With a set that only has 53 cards, it is good to be able to pick these up.

Then I saw these ugly ass cards from Portal Second Age.

These were in really bad condition but I figured I would try and upgrade at a later date.

**Edit, these cards are actually Anthology Hurricanes.  The Portal Second Age cards have black borders.

I was also able to grab some Arabian Nights bulk.

Now, these just look like just crap that no one wants, but these to me are pure gold.  The Moorish Cavalry is both versions, and a wonderful pick up.  Considering the amount of older bulks I might try and go for a playset of all those sets.

Antiquities!!!

These were total speculations based off of how useful they can be with Artifacts.

Legends

These were the cards I picked up from Unlimited that I did not need for the set.

And a couple of Alpha.

And the big haul is the Beta cards.

These were the big pickups in my mind.  For most of these I only paid $0.50 but there were some really good pickups.

Here are the ABU cards that actually go toward the Phase 3 countdown.

So why is bulk so wonderful?  I basically spent 6 hours going through a load full of cards, and just kept pulling cards until I had a serious stack of cards.  Any good LGS will see that someone is willing to pay good cash for cards that won't move, and in the meantime I actually grab some cards that are worth something.  A lot of those cards that I picked up for $0.50 ended up being over $1.00, and I even picked up some Beta rares that were above $10.00.

Now with most of this older stuff I have no plans to trade or sell, and I am using them to build up the collection for the hopes that later they will be worth more than they are today.  In reality it was just wonderful pickups for cheap prices that could not be passed up.

It has been a while, but I really need to do a review on Lodestone Coffee and Games.